WBSRocks: Business Growth with Enterprise Software and Digital Transformation

Send us a textThe software and technology world is evolving daily, and so are the software contracts. As pricing becomes easier to start using software for small-to-medium-sized businesses, the incremental costs could be unexpected if you don't understand the new pricing models. While technology is making it easier to create and sign contracts, it also provides software vendors freedom to create contracts that may not have legal binding or might change even after signing the contract. In today's episode, we invited an expert panel of cross-functional experts for a live interview on LinkedIn who brings significant legal, software, and IT contracting, manufacturing, sales, and ERP implementation expertise. But most importantly, a manufacturer who has owned several manufacturing companies and lived through the contracting challenges over many years. We also invited a guest who appears on several expert witness cases should there be a conflict between the software vendor, implementation partner, and the customer.For more information on growth strategies for SMBs using ERP and digital transformation, visit our community at wbs.rocks or elevatiq.com. To ensure that you never miss an episode of the WBS podcast, subscribe on your favorite podcasting platform.

Send us a textWhen I was planning for this episode, I had a conversation with a friend that I could never forget. She was planning to resign from her company. So I inquired why she was planning to resign. To give you a little background, she was very well established in her career, spent roughly 20 years, and held an executive position at her current company. Her company had experienced massive growth. And there was a high chance that she could get promoted to a much higher position. It didn't make a ton of sense why she wanted to resign as she will have to build her credibility from scratch in the new company. I asked if she wasn't happy with the compensation. She responded with a resounding no. Then I thought maybe it was probably the role or responsibilities with which she might not be happy. But that wasn't the case either. Then I asked. Do you not like your current team or co-workers? She said that she loved her team. Huh? I was clueless as to why she would want to move out.After several more questions, she said my biggest problem is that I am never allowed to go to the board room for meetings even though I am an executive. So I thought, how come meetings could be such a big deal and a potential reason for dissatisfaction at the workplace. I was reflecting on why anyone would lose their life savings for a bunch of meetings. So I asked her why these meetings were so important to her. And what was the primary reason to leave the organization?She said, "to be able to perform my job effectively. I need to be in those meetings." She continued, "I am OK even if they don't let me speak there. Even just listening to them would help." So I asked if she ever tried to approach her superiors and shared her concerns. She said, "she tried numerous times, but the conversation didn't go anywhere." They always brushed her off by saying that you don't want to be in that room with those men. Personally, since I always worked in fairly inclusive workplaces, that didn't make a ton of sense to me. Sure, there would always be minor issues here and there. But I never thought that you would not be allowed into the board room just because you were a female. That got me thinking that although we might be in 2021, we are not over the issues from the 1960s. By not being inclusive and not selecting your teams based on merit, you are only hurting yourself. This story is a reminder that we all need to do our parts of spreading education about inclusiveness in the workplace and how that could impact digital transformation initiatives and growth.When I was planning for the 100th episode of our wildly popular podcast, I had many offers from high-profile celebrities that we could have hosted. But then, I would not be doing my part. So I decided to dedicate this episode to Six amazing women doing fantastic work to promote women in digital transformation. Each of these women has several initiatives to support and encourage women. So no one feels left behind.In this episode, we discussed the factors that are most important to build a digital team. We also discussed several stories where keeping the information in the board room and not including key users resulted in failed digital transformations. Finally, we discussed the importance of communication and why the leaders need to immerse themselves with users to truly understand their needs and not just being lip service and promoting the culture of open and honest communication without fear.For more information on growth strategies for SMBs using ERP and digital transformation, visit our community at wbs.rocks or elevatiq.com. To ensure that you never miss an episode of the WBS podcast, subscribe on your favorite podcasting platform.

Send us a textIrrespective of whether you are an owner who would like changes in your organization or a leader trying to convince the owners or boards for transformational changes, the journey of change is lonely. You might come across super enthusiastic collaborators who will lose interest if they don't see an immediate return. You might also come across several detractors who will take every effort to shut you down. The change requires a deep understanding of the mindset and what drives people to identify the right team to lead the change initiatives.In today's episode, we have our guest, Laura Goodrich, who discusses how and where to begin the journey of change, especially if you have been facing resistance from your team. She also describes how to identify the initial champions and build the right team to take accountability to lead the change and not be discouraged by detractors. Finally, she discusses strategies to lead change in various organizations, including where the team may be facing resistance from the owner or vice versa. For more information on growth strategies for SMBs using ERP and digital transformation, visit our community at wbs.rocks or elevatiq.com. To ensure that you never miss an episode of the WBS podcast, subscribe on your favorite podcasting platform.

Send us a textAn average manufacturing facility may have ten operations to produce a part. The process of creating a chip goes through at least 500 steps. Some of these processes use significantly expensive machines and materials. They also require timely preventive maintenance and sophisticated scheduling. Operational improvements at such facilities could mean a massive difference to your bottom line, while bottlenecks could mean increased operational overhead and product cost.In today's episode, we have our guest, Julie Hopkins, who discusses how she could bring significant productivity improvements in semiconductor facilities by setting the 10x goal. She also describes the manufacturing and quality processes of a dry etch semiconductor fabrication facility and how it is different from other manufacturing sites. Finally, she shared several stories of how to find hidden items that may reduce the operational availability within your process.For more information on growth strategies for SMBs using ERP and digital transformation, visit our community at wbs.rocks or elevatiq.com. To ensure that you never miss an episode of the WBS podcast, subscribe on your favorite podcasting platform.

Send us a textPlanning through growth inflection points is difficult. You have to figure out how to find revenue. And then, if you are not able to fulfill the demand, the growth may fire back. Planning for growth requires you to build your multi-year sales and operating plan. But the most crucial part is its execution. The more alignment you have across your cross-functional groups, the easier and more natural the growth will feel without growing pains.In today's episode, we invited an expert panel of cross-functional experts for a live interview on LinkedIn who brings significant finance, sales, operations planning, logistics, and warehouse expertise. But most importantly, a manufacturer and distributor who has been part of the growth journey for her company from $10M to $200M and experienced it first-hand.For more information on growth strategies for SMBs using ERP and digital transformation, visit our community at wbs.rocks or elevatiq.com. To ensure that you never miss an episode of the WBS podcast, subscribe on your favorite podcasting platform.

Send us a textStock keeping unit (SKU) could be a dummy number, and you might feel how important a number could be. Well, your SKU is a binding thread that ties all your business processes that interact with your products. You could quickly outgrow your SKU numbering strategy if you don't have a flexible numbering scheme to accommodate your near future requirements. The SKU numbers could also impact your customer experience as they are used internally to identify your products. They are also used externally to cross-reference vendor part numbers and search products inside a store or on order forms and invoices.In today's episode, we invited an expert panel of cross-functional experts for a live interview on LinkedIn who brings significant expertise with the SKU numbering scheme and e-commerce to discuss how SKU numbers impact your business processes. We also discussed several stories of poor numbering schemes and best practices that impacted internal efficiencies and customer experience because of the numbering strategies. Finally, we discussed how to design SKU numbers to accommodate current and future requirements without impacting SEO, vendor, and customer interactions and causing any legal and copyright issues.For more information on growth strategies for SMBs using ERP and digital transformation, visit our community at wbs.rocks or elevatiq.com. To ensure that you never miss an episode of the WBS podcast, subscribe on your favorite podcasting platform.

Send us a textMost manufacturers struggle with cross-functional collaboration, especially when it comes to engineering handoff because it requires going beyond the engineering perspective. Engineers need to think from the perspective of consumers. These consumers could be anywhere from machinists, assembly technicians, welders, inspectors, and purchasing. This thinking requires several changes in the organization, including a deeper understanding of the needs of these consumers, adoption of digital processes, and cultural transformations.In today's episode, we have our guest, Jennifer Herron, who discusses how 3D CAD models can improve cross-functional collaboration and design from consumers' perspectives. She also describes the engineering handoff process and cultural barriers in adopting digital processes. Finally, she describes the stages of design processes and the tools relevant at each stage, and which industries are most appropriate for adopting 3D CAD models. For more information on growth strategies for SMBs using ERP and digital transformation, visit our community at wbs.rocks or elevatiq.com. To ensure that you never miss an episode of the WBS podcast, subscribe on your favorite podcasting platform.

Send us a textPaid advertising could make a massive difference to your pipeline and bottom line if done right. It could also help you optimize your organic search campaigns as you would have access to detailed insights into your customer journeys and customer behaviors. But mastering paid advertising is easier said than done. It requires you to make the entire journey congruent, starting from what users are trying to search on google to the design and architecture of your website.In today's episode, we have our guest, Steve Rice, who discusses why congruence is the most important factor to optimize product category architecture, navigation, user experience, customer journeys, and campaign design. He also explains how pay-per-click campaigns can help gather insights to improve overall traffic. Finally, he shares several stories where he could improve the contribution margin by making everything congruent.  For more information on growth strategies for SMBs using ERP and digital transformation, visit our community at wbs.rocks or elevatiq.com. To ensure that you never miss an episode of the WBS podcast, subscribe on your favorite podcasting platform.

Send us a textManufacturers have traditionally been problem solvers. While the problem-solving mindset helps create amazing products, the same skill fires back in designing the processes. This problem-solving approach leads each department to make their decisions independently and buy software to solve their problems, limiting interoperability. This approach also promotes the culture of organizational silos and prevents taking advantage of synergies through a consolidated view of the organization.In today's episode, we have our guest, Mike Yost, who discusses the differences between performance management, production management, and asset management on the shop floor. He also shares several stories where he improved the organization's performance by optimizing the shop floor functions and improving data sharing. Finally, he shares his insights into what executives can do to break the organizational silos and create a consolidated view to take advantage of synergies across business functions and plants. For more information on growth strategies for SMBs using ERP and digital transformation, visit our community at wbs.rocks or elevatiq.com. To ensure that you never miss an episode of the WBS podcast, subscribe on your favorite podcasting platform.

Send us a textIf you are trying to penetrate an account, the involvement of their procurement department is the last thing you want to see as they are hard negotiators on price. Selling to FMCG buyers could even be more challenging as they need to move fast and make quick decisions. In 2021, most offerings are fairly competitive, so you could only do so much while negotiating with FMCG buyers. However, if you researched enough and figured out how to sell based on value, you might end up converting your accounts into strategic with a significant upper hand.In today's episode, we have our guest, Mark Schenkius, who discusses selling to and negotiating with FMCG buyers in buying environments where they need to make quick decisions and move fast. He also describes several negotiation profiles with the help of blue and red colors and how to convert blue to red and vice versa. Finally, he describes the negotiation color of various departments and what sales and procurement teams can do to win negotiations. For more information on growth strategies for SMBs using ERP and digital transformation, visit our community at wbs.rocks or elevatiq.com. To ensure that you never miss an episode of the WBS podcast, subscribe on your favorite podcasting platform.